WHEATON -- Perhaps the warm-up music for Tuesday’s DuPage Valley Conference match between visiting Metea Valley and Wheaton Warrenville South should have been the old-school Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.”

Technically Metea Valley isn’t mathematically eliminated from the final nine-school edition of the DVC title chase, but losing the 2-1 thriller enabled Wheaton Warrenville South's Tigers to keep their claws sunk deep into the race.

Naperville North’s 4-3 Tuesday win over rival Naperville Central has the Huskies out front at 5-1-0. On the inside track at 4-1-0 is both Neuqua Valley – following its 1-0 victory Tuesday vs. Wheaton North – and Wheaton Warrenville South after tagging Metea Valley with its second league loss.

Despite the Mustangs (10-6-1, 3-2-0) having double the incentive – remaining in the chase and avenging a 4-2 home loss to Wheaton Warrenville South during the PepsiCo event – it was Paige Miller’s ferocious double determination that gave Wheaton Warrenville South the last say and made her an obvious choice for Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match.

“No question Paige took the game, and us, on her back,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “This win keeps us in the driver’s seat. Although we have the toughest road, we control most of our own destiny.”

After a nonconference Thursday visit to Geneva, the Tigers (12-3-0, 4-1-0) welcome Naperville North on May 8, then play at Neuqua on May 10, before a regular season and home regular season finale against Wheaton North. Prior to those appointments, the Tigers will clearly be rooting for Waubonsie Valley (4-2-0) to beat the Huskies and would welcome either a Lake Park or Glenbard North upset of Neuqua.

“Maybe having one of the easier routes, (Metea) really needed this one,” Callipari added. “Not getting over us showed in how they were really disappointed.”

The Mustangs have remaining matches versus Lake Park and Glenbard North plus upset-minded, one-win Naperville Central. Metea would need to run the board plus have the Huskies, Wildcats and Tigers all lose again.

“Being a crucial conference game, we wanted it and to win conference,” Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley said. “They came on our field (in the PepsiCo) and got one on us. We wanted to obviously come here and get one on them, but they got another.”

That was the bittersweet and short summary of the match and the two teams’ fortunes.

Miller did a dribbling exhibition capped by a 19-yard laser into the left half of the goal for a Tigers lead after 50:36. Ten minutes later Metea equalized on Nicole Dawson’s first goal of the year off a direct kick that slipped through Wheaton Warrenville South goalie Abbie Brennan’s gloves.

Momentum then appeared to be riding with the Mustangs before the hosts finally counterattacked. That’s when Allie Anderson earned her sixth assist of the season, a total that is only second on the team to Miller’s nine set-ups. A textbook cross found Miller in the middle and in position to lean into a nine-yard header that brought her her team-high goal total to 13 for 2018.

“Initially I anticipated her passing or shooting quickly, but instead she covered about 30 yards and cut back to take a shot from 20 yards out,” said Callipari of the first goal.

“The last pass from Allie (Anderson) was just a great finish by Paige,” the coach said about the second goal.

However like any soccer match, there were numerous other instances of close calls, impressive defensive anticipation, and plenty of back-and-forth action that could have produced different scenarios.

Having won the coin toss, the Tigers opted for the wind but that anticipated advantage didn’t transfer to the scoreboard. It wasn't for a lack of trying however.

Wheaton Warrenville South’s Evelyn Demsher has the first notable try just four minutes in, but Metea Valley starting keeper Myah Schoolman made the save. Seven minutes later, it was defender Maddie Monaco's clearance that was sent on net and required Schoolman to field a one-hopper.

Midway through the opening half, Claire Kiple launched a 46-yard missile from the right wing that missed the far left upper corner. With 10:37 left before halftime, it was Anderson with a free kick that kept rising, and with 7:48 remaining, Schoolman rushed forward to snare a ball before Miller could potentially head it home.

Despite going into the wind, the second half began with more Wheaton Warrenville South attempts, including one from the left by Miller that drew groans from the Tigers bench when it missed the upper right 90.

But then came Miller’s strike for the lead when her shot eluded Metea Valley second half goalie Nikki Coryell.

“That first one I saw the ball in the air and their center back had trouble gaining control, so I capitalized on that to make an attack,” Miller explained. “I had an impulse to cut back to the middle and thought the keeper was leaning right so I aimed for the left side.”

Falling behind energized the Mustangs. Lauryn Wesoloski aimed a tricky grounder goal-ward, but Tigers goalie Abbie Brennan handled it with confidence. The junior did the same on a 31-yard free kick from Nicole Dawson that was a preview of things to come.

With only 12:31 to go in the match, South’s Kiple had a 37-yard cannon volley that missed the upper left corner. Two minutes later, Anderson blasted a 48-yard free kick that Coryell caught.

Metea’s Dawson lined up for yet another wind-aided free kick, this time from 39 yards away. The ball slipped through Brennan’s hands with 10:03 still to go but momentary confusion led to the clock stopping at 10 even.

“Really I was just trying to get it back post hoping someone would run on to it,” Dawson admitted. “It certainly felt good tying the match. It gave us some more energy, but I guess not quite enough to get a second one. In the first half it was so much harder going against the wind and hard for our offense to get to play out wide and attack like we prefer.”

"The wind was a huge factor for both teams,” Tigers goalie Brennan said, adding a touch of humor. “They got me once, almost twice.”

That was a reference to the Mustangs thinking they had a go-ahead strike with 4:23 left, but a foul on Metea Valley had already been whistled to end that attack.

“Ultimately this is a huge win, and I have to credit my back line with playing big,” Brennan said. “We still have some tough games ahead of us, but we’re pretty excited.”

Wheaton Warrenville South was really ecstatic when Anderson and Miller combined for the game-winner with 2:42 remaining in regulation. It’s also Miller’s second Chicagoland Soccer MVP accolade having been selected after a 5-0 DVC win over Lake Park.

“We knew it would be a tough game,” Miller said in acknowledging all that was at stake and that the Tigers surprised Metea back on April 10. “We played super hard and knew we had to have the same mindset this time. In the second half they did come out tougher, but we responded.”

In another respect, the Tigers' two victories were also responses to Metea having posted 1-0 victories in 2015 and 2016 after the Mustangs joined the DVC. If the series continues in the future, it will be as a nonconference meeting -- the Tigers will be founding members of the new DuKane Conference, which debuts next school year.

Callipari didn’t deny having anxiety over defending against the wind.

“With the wind at their back, I was concerned about that layer in front of our defense. I thought they could use that to go to goal more often,” Callipari noted. “But they kept trying to find a seam, or connect one last pass. Thankfully we were able to close that out most of the game.”